"One of its collegiate rules will suffice to reveal to us the spirit of self-sacrifice and Christian heroism with which the youthful Levites were prepared for their missionary toils in Ireland: 'Each priest', thus the rule enacts, 'will offer to God with all possible devotion the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, beseeching our Divine Redeemer to have mercy on our afflicted and persecuted country, and to strengthen our clergy with His sanctifying grace. To attain this end all the students will, moreover, on each Friday, observe a rigorous fast, and will recite every day at their evening devotions the penitential psalm, Miserere mei Deus'".
Dr. Fleming was also a great patron of the learned men, such as the Four Masters, Wadding, Harold, Colgan, and others, who at that time devoted themselves to the study of Irish history and antiquities.
The present volume brings the history of the Archbishops down to the memorable period of 1641. A copious and valuable appendix is added, in which many most interesting letters of Irish bishops, generally inedited, and other documents are published.
The succeeding volumes will appear without any undue delay.
II.
History of the Viceroys of Ireland, with Notices of the Castle of Dublin, etc. By J. T. Gilbert, Esq. Dublin: James Duffy. 1865.
This work is a valuable accession to Irish history. The author has had access to the public records, and in this way has been able to fix the chronology of important events, and to throw great light on a period whose history had been written very inaccurately. The present volume gives the history of the Viceroys from the Norman invasion in the twelfth century down to the death of Henry VII. in 1509. The work will be sought for with avidity by all who wish to become acquainted with the real state of Ireland in the period before the Reformation, and it will increase in interest as it comes down more closely to our own time.